It's a week since one of our most spectacular local Fiestas wound down here in Sitges, and the town has certainly slowed back to a more peaceful pace. Gone are the daily and nightly firework explosions that accompany this week long celebration of the town's Patron Saints, Sant Bartomeu and Santa Tecla, and gone are the hundreds of thousands of supplementary tourists that surge the Pueblo at the end of August.

Celebrated in style, as only the Spanish know how, this Saintly Fiesta delivers extraordinary colour and life to an already vibrant town, so that you'd never know there was a financial "crisis" anywhere in this robust country.

This year Fiesta Major (pronounced 'May-or" in English) started on 19th August, and finished with Sant Bartomeu being returned to the Parish Church on the evening of the 24th. It is normally staged around the same time each year. Starting low key mid week with formal speeches and official opening ceremonies, the Fiesta began gearing up with vivid richness from Saturday afternoon with folk dances, dressing of the "Gegants" (Giant Saintly Paper Maché figures), and a parade of the Gegants through the center of town. And, this year there was even an evening outdoor screening of the movie Grease, complete with live Karaoke. But the main day of the festivities is Sunday, which kicks off in the afternoon with 21 muskets being fired and the Parish Church bells being rung, followed by a Dragon parade complete with blazing diablos being slung above the straw hatted heads of the masses. Then there's the extraordinary Human Tower performance smack bang in the centre of Sitges, where everyone holds their breath waiting for someone to fall (they rarely do), and the Bastoners (Catalan Stick Dancers) and Drummers just to add to the noise and festivities, if there wasn't enough already.

But the pièce de résistance of Fiesta Major is a spectacular beach-front firework display to rival some of the best I've seen in the world. Sitges' centerpiece Church becomes the main focus of the exhibition, and the colourful glow from the fireworks continually spotlights the thousands of people covering every inch of sand who have gathered with picnics for the spectacle. Then, the party really begins!! The restaurants, bars and pop up bars along the Paseo Marítimo are bursting with people, whilst incredibly good live music blares out from the beach-front stage until late. Many of the younger, more energetic festival goers stay on until 6am for more folkloric dances through the streets, with flowers being handed out to the ladies and culminating in a Mass for Sant Bartomeu. Then later in the day more processions, dances and firework displays follow, before Sant Bartomeu is safely returned to the Church in the late afternoon and Sitges returns to a quieter more tranquil state (until the next Fiesta - Santa Tecla 20-22 September).

I was told by a local when I first moved here that the town swells from a population of 27,000 to around 250,000 for Fiesta Major, and, although I haven't been able to verify this it certainly feels that way. It's times like these I'm very happy I have my scooter to avoid traffic and find parking, and with the thousands of Fiesta's held throughout Spain each year it's no surprise so many people own this mode of transport!

Hi, love the blog.....I love Spain and have been 6 times....did first trip before my kids were born, then another in 2005. In '10 and 11 travelled with my daughter..spending 5 weeks in Barcelona in 11 doing Spanish classes.....on the trip we took the train to Sitges and loved it there...

I have friends in Cordoba, which is one of my favourite places in Spain, am in love with flamenco and hope one day to get back to Sevilla to do some dance classes.

To help you with your Spanish, try the 'Duo Lingo'on line course..I'm finding that extremely helpful, as well as attending a weekly U3A class here in Melbourne.

I'd love to be brave enough to move to Spain to live.

Good luck with everything.

Hasta la proxima ...Nola

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Toni Atkinson

11/6/2015 12:30:25 pm

Hi Nola,
Thanks so much for your comments. It sounds like you know more about Spain that I do, even after 3 years here!! It's been a tough few years, but now I'm coming out of the dark tunnel and getting motivated to do more, see more, learn more. Have already been working the duo lingo app, thanks for that. It really has helped me with a few things, but I need to do some concentrated classes next year when I hope my brain will be recalibrated to pick it up!! Cordoba is one place on my list to visit, it looks stunning. Love Seville too and want to go back. I have a flamenco dress and love the idea of doing some classes too. Let me know if you get here, maybe I'll come join you!!

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Just the encouragement I needed to get Dios Mio España off the ground

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